142 The Animal-Lore of ShaJcspeare’s Time. 
round about .it; Lemster ore they call it, which setting aside that of 
Apulia and Tarentum, all Europe counteth to be the verie best.’” 
{Domesticated Animals.) 
The Cotswold breed, whose range extended over the 
hills of Gloucestershire, was also much esteemed for the 
quantity and quality of its wool. In the former of these 
it was superior, according to Drayton, to the Ryeland:— 
“ T’ whom Sarum’s Plaine gives place, though famous for her flocks, 
Yet hardly doth she tythe our Cotswolde’s wealthy locks: 
Though Lemster him exceed in finesesse of her ore. 
Yet quite he puts her downe for his abundant store.” 
{Polyolbion, song 14.) 
According to Fuller, the finest sheep were bred in Buck¬ 
inghamshire. The price he thought so exorbitant would 
hardly excite the astonishment of sheep-growers to¬ 
day :— 
“ The best and biggest-bodied in England are in the Vale of 
Ailsbury in this county, where it is nothing to give tdn pound or 
more for a breed-ram. So that should a forrainer hear of the price 
thereof, he would guess that ram rather, to be some Roman engine of 
battery, than the creature commonly so called.” ( Worthies of England , 
vol. i. p. 133.) 
Justice Shallow inquires of his cousin, “How a score of 
ewes now ? ” To which Silence replies, “ Thereafter as 
they be: a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds ” 
(2 Henry IV. iii. 2, 54). 
A lamb brought up by hand was called a cosset. 
William Browne writes:— 
" And full gladly give I wold 
The best cosset in my fold. 
And a mazor for a fee, 
If this song thou’lt teachen me.” 
( The Shepherd's Pipe , eclogue i.) 
We find this expression also in a tract called Maroccus 
Extaticus , 1595 : “ I have brought thee up right tenderly, 
